C2 is a superb resource, Matthew! Kudos!!
Anyway, a suggestion. Add number of times a subject has been viewed. This lets us know how hot or dull it is. #posts is not real accurate, as sometimes it is just a heated exchange between 2 or 3 people. Changes as following (parens ensure not confuse #posts with #views):
CURRENTLY:
New? Last Post Posted By # Subject
4/10/06 (18:48)
Matthew Klein
44
Sharpe Ratio Calculation is WAYYYY off!
WITH VIEWS:
New? Last Post Posted By # VIEWS Subject
4/10/06 (18:48)
Matthew Klein
44
(763)
Sharpe Ratio Calculation is WAYYYY off!
When you have nothing else to do it would be also be nice to allow people to give recommendations to posts of others, and count the number of recommendations of each post and each poster. (Giving anti-recommendations would be even more fun, but the results would be quite predictable ;-))
Jules
Why throw good money after bad. Sooner or later MK is going to need to bite the bullet and replace the current forum with one of the feature rich “off-the-shelf” available alternatives. The current forum is not adequeate and if volume ever increases it will simply be unusable for a variety of reasons.
I don’t see the point in MK spending any more of time trying to re-invent the wheel (add features to the current forum) - use that time to make the switch.
Jules, I don’t know if you’ve ever visited FatWallet.com but the message board there has a post/thread rating system that sounds similar to what you are proposing. It allows you to agree or disagree with someone without having to post “I agree”. It makes it very easy to find interesting material and conversely avoid pointless threads.
Pete, I don’t know that particular site, but I borrowed the idea from another site that I visit frequently.
I agree with you in that MK can better spend his time on issues that are specific for trading (e.g. profit and risk measures, rankings, realism factor, data feed, order handling) than on all kind of funny features of the forum. That’s why I said “if you have nothing else to do” 
But do you really think that the present forum is so bad? I serves its essential function: communication and discussion. So I wouldn’t really mind if it stays as it is now.
Jules
I like it the way it is now because, like the rest of the C2 site, it is quite uncluttered and simple. Other sites have goofy avatars, lengthy sig lines, etc. etc. They feel more like you’re taking an IQ test than posting to a forum.
Hans.
I agree with MK keeping this forum the way it is, and I point back to my original suggestion. “views” is very standard on many forums.
I do not suggest this because it is interesting, but it is a good measure of a topic’s “intensity.” For one thing, it helps show how much interest a system generates among C2 folks.
It is not clear to me why this forum hasn’t been replaced by the many excellent (and some are free) plugin forums. Those forums allow easy searching and viewing and other needed functions.
Re: "But do you really think that the present forum is so bad? I serves its essential function: communication and discussion. So I wouldn’t really mind if it stays as it is now. "
Hi Jules. I find it marginal right now, missing some rather standard features but nothing that kills it. What concerns me is that if C2’s population grows an order of magnitude then things that are only slightly annoying today will make the forums unusable in the future. Imagine logging into C2 and seeing that there are 400 new messages posted to the forums rather than 40. Long before that point I probably will give up trying to stay current with all new posts.
I agree we don’t need avatars or sigs but we do need the ability to edit a post after its been made (please!), include real hyperlinks, to search by author name, to subscribe to threads - just to name a few things off the top of my head.
The current forums are cute and blend well into the site but they are also idiosyncratic and are missing key features that would make using them more productive/easier.
Anyway, just my 2 cents, I’ve posted this several times before since I’ve been here so I’m sure MK just thinks we are beating a dead horse here.
I agree we don’t need avatars or sigs but we do need the ability to edit a post after its been made (please!), include real hyperlinks, to search by author name, to subscribe to threads - just to name a few things off the top of my head.
I agree. If the author of a thread determines that his post (based on reply’s to his post) may be offending to someone, he should be able to delete it based on his discretion. Also, he should be able to delete messages in his forum, which is offending him. The public is made up of individuals. Any other course would be a violation of the individual’s rights.
